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Saturday, March 1

springing ahead

I am not going to complain about this interminable Winter. I choose to live in a 4 season climate. Four extreme, identifiable, sometimes glorious, sometimes hellish seasons.
Winter is just one of four. Snow is part of it. We deal with it. Shortly after it falls, the plows come barreling, sparks flying from the blade, and the streets are clear. One develops a technique for climbing up a snow bank and down to your car door and back so you can open it and a slow awkward slide and turn to get in. Easy peasy.
Spring is wet and green and the air is sweet and soft. Summers are perfect. Sunny. Not too hot, only a few humid days, beaches close by. Fall. Ah, Fall. A riot of color, leaves underfoot, the tiniest tang of chill in the mornings, air that is clear and sharp.
So, remembering this, I can handle this infernal, worse than ever Winter. Which doesn't keep me from counting the days until Spring (20)

Deciding to move more into art with my collage work is a new "season" for me. Like Spring, there is a freshness to it, growth. There is also uncertainty, but the promise of something new softens the anxiety of it, makes it feel more like anticipation.

I received my first rejection of the year after several seasons of 100% acceptance. It is a show I've been accepted to before so there are probably more factors involved than just the work, I chose a more popular weekend with no 2nd choice for another. I will believe that to be the reason.

The reality is that people just aren't buying handmade books like they used to when I started doing this 16 years ago. It's all online now. Even I blog here instead of in a book. It is time to move on.

So I dropped a few more apps in the mail today, burned some CD's of images. Realized I have a lot of growing to do in this new art.

Why this blog?

I have been amused and bewildered by how people think this life/career works. Most people walking the festive streets of an art fair don't give a lot of thought to how all this stuff got here or what the working lives of the exhibitors is like.

So, this is my little window into the world of the art show business. From the January days, cutting book boards with a space heater aimed at my hands, to the sun and chatter of the June shows, the inevitable July rush to keep up, the September road trips and the Fall shows that take place under red and gold canopies of leaves.

It's all here...or will be. The boring production part, the application dance, anecdotes from the road, good shows and bad, new designs to share, good customers and bad, the fun and the pain. And a little bit of real life thrown in.

If you have ever walked a show and wished you could be one of those folks selling stuff from a little white tent, you might want to read this first. :)